Transportation

To help explain what goes on beneath a commute, the Missouri Department of Transportation has created a video that shows the aging process of the state’s roadways and how the wear and tear they endure on a daily basis affects what’s below the highway regardless of surface improvements.

It also explains how the price tag for replacing the highway grows the longer the work is delayed and why additional funding is needed to keep the state’s highway system in good condition.

The cracks, pops and booms that explode every Fourth of July are much like the fireworks that take place when bridges go down with a bang after new, safer structures have been erected. Missouri has 10,249 bridges on the state system and the most major river bridges in the nation with 53. The average cost to build a major bridge runs from $30 million to $80 million, with some structures costing as much as $300 million. With bridges playing a major role in the state’s transportation system, Missouri has seen a fair share of bridge demolitions. In the spirit of Independence Day, the Missouri Department of Transportation has pulled together a compilation of bridge demolitions into a brief video.